Flat design is a key trend in design for the coming years, so let's take a closer look at it and learn about the 5 fundamental principles that formed its basis.

Introduction to flat design

In Russian, flat design is translated as “flat design”, and it became an absolute favorite after Apple presentations iOS OS. A minimalistic approach to design for usability has taken center stage. The focus is on user comfort. This is a pronounced protest against "squeeformism" (visualization of objects, as in reality). The choice fell on more simplified and at the same time aesthetically simple solutions. Users who are tired of realistic visualizations enthusiastically greeted this direction, and more and more web projects are moving to this format.

I would like to note that “flat” does not mean “boring”. Flat design solutions can be beautiful, they are more refined, clean, free from redundancy of anything, transforming into an “island of calm”. They finally make the content understandable. It remains to learn the basic principles in order to put them into practice.

"Flat" design does not seek to convey volumes, so two-dimensional visualization is the basis. This means that you will not see any shadows, reflections, or highlights with textures (the exception is long shadows). Only the transfer of contours, and nothing more.

It is recommended to use monosyllabic figures in the design, as well as to follow the clarity of the contours, which is designed to emphasize lightness and weightlessness. In addition, such concise elements imitate the sensor well, generating a desire to interact with the object (call for pressing, touching). However, the simplicity of the elements does not equal the simplicity of the design as a whole - this applies only to the outlines. As a result, everything that the user sees is clear to him, and he can easily use it.

Flat design calls for extremely careful work with fonts. That is, their character must complement the design scheme, without contradicting it. Moreover, in flat design, the font is also a key navigational element.

Not only type, but also color is an essential part of flat design. The vast majority of palettes are based on 2-3 colors, although, of course, there are exceptions. Usually juicy and bright, but pure colors are chosen. As noted, there are no gradients or unnecessary transitions.

Flat design is a prime example of such a worldwide trend as minimalism. Designers are abandoning unnecessary "bells and whistles", moving away from complex and implicit approaches to visualization, which bears fruit in the form of user activity.

Flat or almost flat? Looking for a compromise!

In conclusion, I would like to note that today there is a synergy between flat and non-flat design. We are talking about an "almost flat" design. This is the most common application of the described concept, when, along with simple and concise elements and two-dimensional space, designers use 1-2 tricks for depth and perspective.

Also, the trend of 2017 was Semi Flat Design - a semi-flat design. Influenced by Material Design, it has become a bit more spatial. There are light shadows that make the design semi-flat. Flat design is still relevant today, due to the shadows it has become deeper and more complex, but the main concept is not violated.

which is developing mobile applications and websites, wrote a column for us and put everything in its place in regards to flat and material design.

By and large, the difference between flat design (Flat design) and material design (Material Design) is subtle. To a person who does not have a deep knowledge of graphic design, they really can seem very similar. In this article, I'll try to shed some light on some of the differences between them. You will gain additional knowledge, which is so necessary so as not to accidentally hurt the delicate nature of the designer.

A bit of history

Before we start talking about the differences between the two most popular design trends, let's find out where they come from. There is an opinion that material design is created on the basis of flat. Where did flat design come from then?

Skeuomorphism

When it comes to user interface and web design, the concept of skeuomorphism refers to an approach whose main idea is imitation. Without going into too much detail, let's just remember Apple's interfaces before iOS 7 with their "realistic textures, lighting, and pretentious effects."

The attempt to make digital objects look like their real world counterparts was justified by the need to facilitate user interaction with the device. As a matter of fact, it is for this reason that all interfaces with realistic textures have dominated the digital world for many years. The skeuomorphic design did a great job of helping users seamlessly transition from the real world to the digital world.

However, with the rise mobile technologies gradually there is a need to focus primarily on convenience and ease of use. Agree, in this area the need to create mobile solutions available from different devices, increases exponentially. At this very moment, simplicity becomes the new design standard.

Note: By no means think that skeuomorphism has completely disappeared. It is widely used in games where it is necessary to create a realistic world and help the players feel their character in order to immerse themselves in the game process.

flat design

This style is completely devoid of any three-dimensional objects. Roughly speaking, in flat design there are no such stylistic elements as a drop shadow, textures, gradients, but attention is paid to the play of fonts and colors and icons. But why was all this necessary? The answer is simple.

First, flat design significantly reduces page load times. The absence of “heavy” skeuomorphic details (just imagine: layers, serifs, gradients) makes flat design elements “lighter”, which in turn significantly speeds up loading times. Moreover, flat elements look equally attractive on screens as with high resolution, and low.

Secondly, simple images can convey your idea to users faster than detailed illustrations: they are sketchy and therefore quite easy to understand.

And, of course, flat icons with relatively simple font can direct users' attention to really important content.

Today, flat design has received well-deserved recognition, but still it has not been without problems. The most obvious example of such problems was the release of Windows 8 by Microsoft. This operating system is considered a pioneer of flat design and supports the Metro design concept. What led to problems was that the company found it necessary to pay more attention to the typography than to the actual graphics.

The results of the Windows 8 usability test, conducted by the NN Group, showed that users had difficulty distinguishing clickable objects from non-clickable ones. Users have complained that objects that look static are actually clickable. As a result, the company's main mission - to help users correctly interpret the system - failed.

Another company that is often associated with flat design is Apple. They moved away from skeuomorphic design elements in the mobile operating system iOS 7, released in 2013. This time the transition was received a little better, mainly due to the fact that the company did not try to completely update the concept. user interface, but just added a few changes towards a flat design. This gave users the opportunity to use the product, relying on their previous experience with operating systems and websites.

material design

Let's be clear right now: material design is more of a branded product than a spontaneous design trend that has gained wide acceptance. This is what basically distinguishes it from flat design.

By calling material design “signature”, I mean that it has a whole set of clearly defined recommendations and principles that every self-respecting designer follows. It is quite obvious why Google introduced its Material Design: there was a need to unify the design so that applications look the same on any of the many Android devices.

Although quite functional, flat design is still considered difficult to understand. The truth is that flat objects on the screen can confuse users (especially those who are not experienced with mobile and web interfaces). Therefore, material design tries to bring back the elements of skeuomorphism, but in a greatly simplified form. The images look flat, especially when it comes to colors, but are still multi-dimensional thanks to the presence of the z-axis.

In other words, material design can be called an improved version of flat design with elements of skeuomorphism - animation, shadows and layers. In this way, you can make the product more intuitive in terms of navigation, and avoid unnecessary complexity in terms of style in general.

Advantages and disadvantages of flat design

Let's leave behind the history of the evolution of styles and move on to something more significant - we list the strengths and weak sides flat design.

• Minimalism and style
• Intuitiveness. It will be easier for you to convey your idea to users.
• Saving time and resources. Pages load much faster with less bandwidth consumption.
• Focus on content. An interface without unnecessary details that can distract from really valuable information.
• Looks equally good on various devices, whether it's a PC or smartphone browser.
• Speeds up the design process of a website or application by getting rid of unnecessary design touches.

• Minimalistic style.
• Fairly intuitive. Material design will be equally easy to perceive as experienced users as well as newcomers.
• Moderate skeuomorphism. Everything looks more realistic thanks to the use of the Z-axis (Google's unique concept).
• There is a set of manuals that are constantly updated. Therefore, any designer can always turn to them if there are difficulties in the process of work.
• Animation for web solutions is encouraged. There is no need to remind you how much people love movement. In addition, animation allows you to make the interface more understandable and intuitive.

• Has an owner ( Google). Therefore, any questions and suggestions for improvement should be addressed to the owner.
• Due to the presence of the Z axis, the design process may take longer.
• Animated elements require more resources.
• Strict adherence to guidelines can limit the originality of a design.

Summarize

It really shouldn't be considered that one of the design approaches under consideration has a distinct advantage over the other, as flat and material styles go side by side. They are both insanely popular and both are devoid of excessive realism. Material design is a successor to flat, while flat design itself was a reaction to too heavy and realistic solutions. Material design added something that flat design has always tried to move away from - a bit of skeuomorphism. One thing will always differ between these approaches, though: material design is a patented product of Google, while flat design is the result of a fusion of several design practices that strives primarily for overall simplicity.

In truth, flat design has evolved a lot in recent years, from a completely “flat” style to a “semi-flat” one. It now allows for the use of layers and subtle shadows to make objects look deeper than they previously seemed. So, we are happy contemporaries of flat design 2.0.

Lastly, nothing forbids you to try to combine these two approaches to create a truly functional and user friendly product. So get inspired by the flat and material design gurus and get to work!

If you find a typo - highlight it and press Ctrl + Enter! To contact us, you can use .

From the author: I greet you, friends! Today we will talk about what is flat design, or flat website design. This term has long conquered the hearts of web designers and is still confidently trending. The largest companies (Google, YouTube, Microsoft, Apple Inc., etc.) use it to design their websites and applications. Are you still not in the sect of supporters of flat website design? Then we go to you!

What do you think is the reason for such a frenzied popularity of flat design? I will answer you in a nutshell: it really works! In this article, I will explain to you what this style is, tell you about its pros and cons, and show you some great examples of flat website design that will surely inspire you to exploits. So let's go!

It all started with skeuomorphism

For those not in the know, skeuomorphism is not a dirty word, but another style of web design. Flat design is often presented as the opposite of skeuomorphism, which, in my opinion, is not entirely correct. This is more of a simplification than an antagonism.

Until 2010, skeuomorphism was the dominant style in interface design. He displayed elements as they looked in reality, actively using textures, shadows, reflections and other attributes of a three-dimensional image. I have tried especially hard in this regard. Apple company, which carefully copied most of the software objects from real-life objects.

Soon, pseudo-raised icons ceased to appeal to most users and web developers, which ushered in the era of flat website design. The world came to the conclusion that all decorative elements should be removed, and only what is convenient for the end user to interact with should be left.

"The best design is as little design as possible"

How Dieter Rams looked into the water - a well-known industrial designer who opposes intrusive design, animation effects, etc. In June 2013, Apple Inc. introduced the revolutionary iOS 7, which received all the attributes in the style of flat web design. However, the plane did not immediately "defeat" realism and volume.

Users for a long time could not forget the magic of Steve Jobs and the icons "that you want to lick." Many even said goodbye to the "wretched seven" and switched to "radiant Android". Adding fuel to the fire was a large number of bugs that were present in iOS 7, and a whitish, translucent design with parallax and animation in the form of "snot" when opening applications.

Those who resigned themselves to the inevitable reality and stayed with the "apple" operating system, in the end, realized that flat web design not only looks interesting, but also brings order and a single visual style to all applications.

Pros and cons of flat design

The benefits of using this style include:

clarity of composition and conciseness of visual means. Responsive interface in the style of "nothing more, so that users quickly realize what they wanted to convey to them;

focus on good typography. Content comes first, which is extremely important in today's abundance of information;

smaller size web pages and speeding up the site due to the minimum number of visual effects. This is especially useful when creating responsive versions, because the simpler the forms, the easier they are to display on small screens of mobile devices.

Flat web design also has disadvantages:

limiting the web designer's imagination to simplified colors, typography, iconography. Therefore, the risk of creating a boring and inexpressive site is higher;

the lack of three-dimensionality and shadows sometimes does not allow you to understand whether the element is clickable or not;

lack of specific fixed rules.

If you have decided to use this style on your site, congratulations - this indicates that you care about the convenience of users and keep up with the times. If you're just starting out as a web designer and don't know how to properly use flat design to make your site look relevant but not primitive, here are some tips:

Forget about "brick walls" and bright backgrounds. In flat web design, it is common to use simple, smooth, soft background images.

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No gradients, 3D icons, animated transitions or other special effects. All this will make your site heavy and fussy - do you need it?

Use flat icons with clear outlines that add convenience and functionality.

Use a bright, juicy color palette. Now the trend is tones of the solar spectrum: light yellows, pinks and greens. The main thing is not to overdo it - there should be no more than 3 colors on the page.

Focus on typography. Flat design favors bright, original labels that create a call to action and provide easy site navigation. Here, too, it is important not to overdo it. Forget about "handwritten" and other fancy fonts. You can use to highlight headers. capital letters.

Feel free to use a variety of geometric shapes. Squares, circles, lines and other shapes will help not only improve the structure of the website, but also create a clear hierarchy and separate content. Users will appreciate it, believe me.

Make it as easy as possible navigation menu and other elements of the site. As buttons, use regular rectangles without shadows and highlights.

Thus, over the years, flat design websites have become the standard accepted by absolutely everyone. Look at most modern sites - they are flat "to the bone."

Finally, I will give the promised examples of successful flat design that can serve as inspiration for you to create your own masterpieces.

1. Site http://dunked.com.

A popular platform for publishing portfolios, aimed at representatives of various creative professions. Minimalistic flat web design evokes a sense of a reliable and understandable service that does not distract with superfluous special effects.

2. Microsoft interface.

Microsoft is one of the companies that made flat style so popular. Do you remember the Zune, the iPod competitor that Microsoft released in the mid-2000s? So, the design of this product was very different from most applications of that time, largely due to large typography, flat icons, large and bright forms.

This interface, which was called Metro, later migrated to personal computers(Windows 8), Xbox 360 interface and others software products Microsoft.

3. Website http://www.vox.com.

Well, are you inspired? Down with pseudo-realistic 3D aesthetics!

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In this article I will tell you about flat design. You must have heard something about this already, since flat has become one of the leading trends on the web over the past few years.

Today we will understand what flat design is, how it comes about and what you need to create a clean, bright and responsive design.

you can find good examples flat design at http://market.envato.com/. There are plenty of layouts, icons and templates that will give you a clear idea of ​​what modern design looks like. .

1. What is flat design?

Flat design - modern style user interface, as well as graphic design, characterized by minimalism. Flat design is characterized by the use of a minimum of elements and the absence of various effects of texture, shadow and light, for example: mixed colors, gradients, highlights, and so on.

Flat versus skeuomorphism( Skeuomorphism is a design principle when one product is given the appearance of another, i.e. when various interface elements are copied from real objects - approx. translation.) , as well as rich design. However, it is worth saying that flat design is not at all as simple as it seems at first glance. It includes some features of skeuomorphism, but we will talk about this a little later.

In general, flat helps keep the user focused on the content without being distracted by the visuals. Flat design emphasizes the simplicity of the elements while making the interface more responsive, pleasant and easy to use.

2. A bit of history

Flat design, as you know, existed long before the moment when it became a global trend on the web. Flat design was quite popular in the 80s due to the fact that the technique at that time was not yet developed enough to support complex effects, textures and shadows. However, even then, the design strove for skephomorphism, trying to make interface elements as realistic as possible.

Flat-design, in the form in which we see it now, began to gain popularity after Microsoft began to produce products in the so-called metro-style. Metro is a UI design from Microsoft that impresses with its style and simplicity.

In 2010 year Microsoft released Windows phone 7, which used flat design with sharp edges and simple graphics inherited from one of the early products Microsoft (Zune). Later, inspired by the success, Microsoft released operating system Windows 8 based on the same Metro flat style.

After all, flat design reached its peak in 2013 when Apple released iOS 7 demonstrating fundamentally new design with completely redesigned user interface elements, including icons and fonts. Apple created visual principles of UI and icon design .

Shortly thereafter, Google also began using the flat style in their apps and web pages, calling it material design. Google even has an entire section dedicated to this style, including a description of the goals of web design, its principles and instructions for creating various design objects: icons, layouts, and so on.

Since that time, flat has become a key trend in web design, making websites, applications and interface elements elegant, clean and stylish.

Thus, there are three global examples of flat design from firms, without which it is difficult to imagine modern world technologies:

Microsoft's Metro design

Apple iOS 7 design

Google's Material Design

3. Remember cleanliness

Flat design is apparently called "flat" due to the lack of 3D elements and realistic effects such as gradients, textures, highlights, midtones, shadows. Remember, flat style is a two-dimensional (flat) way of depicting objects.

Moreover, in flat design, objects are depicted in a very simplified and stylized way.

And sometimes even just a silhouette or contours of an object is used, i.e. just enough to make the object recognizable, but not to overload it with minor details.

Minimalism has become a global trend these days: the simplicity of shapes and the use of sharp edges create a clean and pleasing to the eye design. Simple forms are more understandable and easier to understand. This keeps the design minimalistic, clean, and prevents it from getting a busy, messy look.

4. Perfect

Know that when it comes to creating flat icons and UI elements, you have to make them look crisp, neat and pixel perfect, i.e. as much as possible. Moreover, this applies to both raster and vector graphics.

With the program Adobe Photoshop everything is clear here: it works with raster graphics, which are based on pixels.

As for the program Adobe Illustrator, then it uses vector graphics, consisting of curves and lines, called vectors, which are given by mathematical formulas.

Once upon a time, Adobe Illustrator was not a particularly convenient program for creating pixel-perfect graphics. The good news is that latest versions Illustrator has become a great tool for creating good graphics.

Gotta say that Vector graphics mostly involves working with simple, flat shapes, solid colors and grids. Adobe Illustrator is very flexible and allows you to adapt the grid to your needs, align objects and use different types snapping. This makes it easier to create the perfect design that looks clean and stylish on any display. If you want to learn how to create perfect graphics, then you should read the article: How to create pixel perfect artwork using Adobe Illustrator .

5. Color

One of the more specific features of flat design, aside from shadows, is the use of color. Most of the colors that flat design uses in their elements consist of just a few basic colors.

Color in flat design is distinguished by brightness, saturation, juiciness.The flat color scheme is not limited to a few special colors. They contain many shades, and their choice depends only on what you are depicting, whether they are icons of sweets or retro-style objects in a sophisticated retro palette.

Let's say you're a user interface designer and you're good with color palettes, and you're experimenting with the color bar in Photoshop and Illustrator, mixing colors however you like. However, this process is quite complicated and requires good intuition, experience and skills. Here you will find some tools that can help you create your own color palette.

Some of them are suitable for all kinds of designs and illustrations, not just flat designs. For example, Adobe Color CC, better known as Cooler. Today there is access to it, both through the website and directly through Adobe products. The cooler is a very flexible tool that allows you to either create your own color palette or choose from custom palettes from the library.

Another simple and handy color palette generator is Coolors. Just press the spacebar and the program will generate a color palette, you can adjust the colors, there is also an export function.

There are several other similar services with custom palettes that can be useful. However, there is one tool made specifically for flat design. FlatUIColors.com by Designmodo is a service with a set of “flat” colors, very convenient to work with. This site has become very popular with designers looking for good color choices for perfect designs. Try it!

And you can find more variety of colors and palettes in Google's Material Design Guide.

6. Long shadows

As mentioned above, flat design is characterized by simplicity, a lot of free space - this is why flat rejects the use of any effects. However, there is one effect that is specific to flat design. This effect has become a trend and characteristic feature flat.

We are now talking about long shadows. They have some typical characteristics, which make this effect recognizable, namely: a 45-degree slope and a large size (the shadow can be several times longer than the subject itself. As a result, long shadows give the flat some effect of depth.

This effect makes the object more three-dimensional, but at the same time leaving it in the context of a flat design.

7. Working with fonts

Typography plays a big role in flat design. Often the text becomes the main element of the composition.

Flat usually uses simple font styles that make the whole design clean and readable. You can find many free fonts in Adobe Typekit if you use Adobe products. You can also find many good free fonts on Font Squirrel. But don't forget to read the license if you're going to use the font for commercial purposes.

Most often in flat design it is customary to use uppercase and contrasting colors, this makes the text more legible.

Use fonts with care, remembering that it should emphasize and fit the design, and not look like a separate element. This does not mean that you cannot use serif fonts or cursive complex fonts. Just remember to be minimalistic and keep everything in balance. However, flat still uses sans-serif fonts more often, as they look more strict and neat.

8. Pros and Cons of Flat Design

Even though flat design has become so popular due to its many advantages, there are still some disadvantages that designers face when using this style. Let's look at the pros and cons.

pros

Popularity

Flat design has become a trend, gaining more and more positive feedback from designers and web designers, and it does not seem to be losing ground at all. On the contrary, it is spreading more and more, acquiring some new forms and features, becoming more and more creative.

Simplicity

The flat design is simple, minimalistic and clean. Flat on the web helps users focus on content rather than being distracted by visuals. This also works for mobile app interfaces: clean design with big buttons makes the use of mobile devices perfect.

Brightness

Color is another cool plus in flat design. Bright and saturated colors look attractive and clean, and the lack of gradients makes the design stylish. Moreover, such pure colors make it more positive, presentable, flat design creates the right mood.

Flaws

Flat has many more advantages, but no design is perfect, and we cannot idealize it. Here are some disadvantages of flat design that we have to mention:

Unresponsiveness

Sometimes the lack of important details or visual effects makes the process of creating a user-friendly interface difficult, and this generally makes the whole design unresponsive. Not all users feel comfortable with flat, because it can be difficult to find elements on a web page that you have to click on or tap on the screen mobile phone because they are not interactive.

Problems with typography

As mentioned earlier, not every font can suit flat design. Sometimes such a rich font with sharp edges looks really balanced and stylish. However, in the event that the font is chosen incorrectly, this can destroy the entire design. You have to have a really good feel for which fonts are suitable for flat and which are not. Lack of experience makes choosing a font very difficult.

Weak visuals

Due to limitations in the use of effects, colors and fonts, flat may look too simple and cold. Its minimalism can also be its main drawback - other flat designs end up looking exactly like yours. So it's very difficult to make your icons or web pages look different from someone else's design because you're using the same simplified shapes, limited color palettes, and similar fonts. As a result, flat design can become boring over time.

9. Future Flat Design Trends

It cannot be said that flat design is fully formed and stopped in its own way. Maybe it is because of its shortcomings mentioned above, flat tends to develop and change, acquire new features and enhance visual expressiveness.

If you look carefully at the last example of flat design, you can see that it really isgradually from his rigorous tools and begins to add subtle effects such as gradients, shadows, lighting and other visual effects.

These little touches give flat designs some depth without being overly detailed like skeuomorphic designs do. These minor improvements make flat more responsive and comfortable, as well as a fresh look, making flat more flexible and versatile.

Thus, flat does not lose its features, but becomes more interesting, flexible- He's really getting better.

conclusions

Thus, we discussed some facts from the history of flat design, and talked about colors, shapes and typography. We looked at different points of view, dwelled on the advantages and disadvantages of flat, and learned some of the main principles for creating good design.

I hope you have learned something new from this article, or at least found it interesting. You should try flat design if you haven't done it before.

After all, what else should be mentioned about flat design?

If you really like flat with its sharp edges, juicy colors and crisp fonts, its cleanliness and minimalism, then go for it!

It's on trend, but as with any other graphic style, don't limit yourself to one technique. If flat is in trend, this does not mean that you cannot use other styles in your project. Skeuomorphism with its tiny details and textures can also become good decision. Most importantly, remember that the design is different for each project, it must express its spirit, purpose, essence, while remaining convenient and functional. Forward!

What is flat design? This design direction is one of the most discussed on the Internet. In short, flat design is an extremely simplified style, the roots of which go back to minimalism. But this is not exactly minimalism, since given style can take a variety of forms depending on the design requirements. To better understand what flat design is, it's best to go backwards and define what it's not exactly.

This is not 3D. By itself, 3D graphics allows you to get very realistic, but at the same time two-dimensional images. Unlike 3D, flat design does not pay much attention to details that create depth and dimension, such as shadows, highlights, and textures.

This is not a skeuomorphism. Flat design appeared as an alternative to pseudo-dimensional design elements that imitated real objects or processes. Skeuomorphism involves the active use of various effects: shadows, reflections, reflections and realistic textures. There is nothing of this in flat design and cannot be.

For the first time, people started talking about flat design in 2012-2013, when this style first appeared. The trend was very noticeable and made a lot of noise, since one of the first to start developing this direction was Microsoft. The release of Windows 8 with a new interface forever changed the design and largely predetermined the development vector of the web, at least its visual component.

Apple did not stand aside, which also abandoned pseudo-volumetric elements in the design of the interfaces of its devices. Microsoft and Apple created a new reality where outdated websites had no place. At the same time, Apple did not act as radically as its eternal competitor, and gradually got rid of elements of skeuomorphism.

Flat design itself is neither bad nor good, web designers make it convenient or inconvenient. But to be honest, flat design in its extremes is not very aesthetically pleasing. Probably, the sweet spot in this case is somewhere in the middle between flat and pseudo-volumetric elements.

It is quite possible that the dominant one for several recent years the trend towards extreme simplification will be replaced by something else. There are some prerequisites for this - for example, the Material Design direction, created by the designers of Google Corporation.

COMPATIBLE WITH ADAPTIVE DESIGN

Microsoft and Apple's move away from skeuomorphism in interface design has had big repercussions. The new style was almost immediately adopted as a new approach to UX. Since then, flat design has become a dominant trend that is still relevant. Today, flat elements are ubiquitous, we see them on websites, in applications and on the displays of various devices.

Flat design principles apply to a wide variety of design categories, but its strict grids and simplistic graphics display best on small screen devices.

The trend towards minimalism has greatly simplified the work of designers - it has become easier for them to design interfaces that display correctly on any type of device. In the case of pseudo-3D elements, this was not the case - sometimes an interface that looked amazing on a desktop screen turned into a pumpkin of something indistinct on a mobile device.

One of the main advantages of flat design is its scalability. Flat elements look good no matter the size and are much easier to work with than pixel-perfect designs.

FLEXIBLE PLATFORM

Flat design in its pursuit of simplicity is characterized by good flexibility: all elements are usually created from uniform geometric shapes, which makes it easy to create a balanced layout where each module or block has its place. At the same time, all elements are easily distinguishable and, importantly, they can be quickly swapped during operation without violating the original settings.

Grids also have a flexible structure that can be presented in a variety of configurations. This allows designers to create the most optimal approaches that best showcase the content at their disposal. The absence of restrictions and the need to adjust the grid in case of changes or additions of new elements significantly speeds up the workflow.

READABLE TYPOGRAPHY

Flat design has fundamentally changed how designers think about typography. The new style required a different approach to the choice of fonts and to the quality of layout. As a result, the absence of shadows and various effects made the texts more readable.

Flat design tends to make extensive use of sans-serifs, however, this is not akisome and serifs can also look good when paired with flat elements. Serif fonts will be quite appropriate as a heading, and they can also be used in the body text, if the typography does not violate the compositional unity.

MINUSES

It may seem that flat design has no flaws, but it is not. In their quest to emphasize clean lines and shapes, some designers fall into the trap of focusing on aesthetics while forgetting usability. A simple and beautiful design, in which there is nothing superfluous, is not always convenient, and such errors are especially pronounced when using mobile devices.

In flat design, it is often difficult to tell which element is interactive and which is not. Everything is the same, there are no obvious differences, all elements lie in the same plane. In the pursuit of simplicity, designers may inadvertently hide or unwittingly mask important features or actions, and the user, not seeing the usual prompts, may lose their bearings on the site.

Let's take this site as an example. What elements in it are interactive. All? Or just some? Unclear. This can only be found out by the “poke method”, but these are already extra movements, which is undesirable.

LOSS OF INDIVIDUALITY

For any brand, business or design project, uniqueness is of the utmost importance. Whether it's a website, an application, a booklet, a poster or a business card, the design must be original and well recognizable.

One of the disadvantages of flat design is its visual style. The use of simple geometric shapes often results in two completely different designs being very similar to each other. Designers who use flat elements are limited in what they can do because they don't have much big choice acceptable options. Recently, on the Internet you can see a lot of clone sites that are not actually clones. It's just a coincidence. Moreover, the coincidence is unpleasant, since the site loses its much-needed individuality, getting lost against the background of other resources with a similar design.

Sometimes it gets ridiculous. Looking at these pictures, you might think that we have different sections of the same application. But no, the designers Marco La Mantia and Simone Lippolis worked independently. Basic geometric shapes and a white sans-serif font are used as the main design elements - the solution is more than logical. But the result is deplorable - the same color scheme completely deprived the design of uniqueness. And there are many such cases.

CHASING FASHION

Flat design will remain one of the hottest trends for a long time to come, simply because it looks good on mobile device displays. But many designers choose flat not only because it allows you to quickly solve most of the tasks, but also because of their desire to create something modern and fashionable.

However, in the pursuit of fashion, one can make a serious mistake: if you mindlessly follow all the trends, it is quite possible to forget about the usefulness of design. Flat can be very beautiful, elegant and even graceful, but still, the choice of a designer should be determined by functionality, and not by the desire for beauty. Sometimes the desire to “shove” something fashionable into the design only hurts, for example, long shadows, one of the most recognizable flat design chips.

Before us are the works of designers Alexander Lototsky and Erik Malmskeld. These are typical examples of the use of long shadows in design. Now you won’t surprise anyone with this, but at one time, and both works were created back in 2013, when flat design was just coming into fashion, the new visual style was very interesting and attractive. As a result, there are so many similar icons that today the use of shadows is a formulaic and uninteresting solution. It used to be fashionable, but not anymore. Shadows are like shadows. They have no meaning, no useful function they don't perform.

POOR FONT SELECTION

Every designer dreams of creating something beautiful and functional at the same time. But in the pursuit of aesthetics, you can make poor choices that will affect usability. An example is the craze for thin and light fonts. This type of typography looks clean and light, but it's hard to read.

Sometimes choosing a thin font is justified - for example, for use in headings. But when the main text is typed in the same font, it is often impossible to read it. Such errors are especially noticeable in mobile devices – small size screen dramatically reduces the readability of the content.

FLAT 2.0

Over the past few years, designers have experimented with flat elements and brought a lot of new things to flat design. The style is fully formed and like any other established style, it has its pros and cons.

At the dawn of its appearance, flat was distinguished by strict visual simplicity, there was no hint of shadows and structures in it. Even gradients were not held in high esteem, although they do not contradict the principles of flat design.

But gradually, designers began to move away from too simple solutions, trying to find some compromise solution between flat and skeuomorphism. The result is a new style that some designers call Flat 2.0. Shadows, gradients, and even light, almost imperceptible structures gradually began to appear in design elements. Flat design clearly lacks depth, and designers have begun to use hybrid approaches. For example, visually arrange elements on different levels, experiment with shades and shadows. Another frequently used example of a hybrid approach is the use of not only icons and flat vector-like illustrations in the flat, but also photographs.

Google has done a lot to promote Flat 2.0. The Material Design Guideline is an attempt to create a new visual language that combines flat and three-dimensional design elements. Google's recommendations are very detailed and easy to follow. At the same time, Google does not insist on strict adherence to all the rules set out in the guideline - designers can experiment by creating their own original projects, where a variety of elements can be combined.

CONCLUSION

Today, Flat 2.0 is in its infancy, but the direction in which this style will develop is already quite discernible. Significant changes are not expected - trendsetters Google, Apple and Microsoft are not going to abandon the flat. If there are any changes, they will be minor - new approaches will appear, someone will come up with an interesting "chip", attempts will continue to take the best of skeuomorphism. But in a global sense, one should not expect anything really new - flat design is a long-term trend and only a style that best meets new technologies that do not yet exist can shift it from its won positions.